2: 2

My cheek was still burning when I looked up into a furious face.

"Watch your mouth. Don't forget, I'm the one supporting Mom and Dad. You've been away for years, you can't take care of them, so what's wrong with putting in a little money?"

I stared at my brother, at all that anger on his face, and couldn't help the cold laugh that came out.

"You? Support Mom and Dad? How do you even say that with a straight face? Your down payment came from them. Your renovations came from them. Your mortgage gets paid with Mom's pension money. And Dad's pension? You've been taking that too, to cover your household."

"So what exactly are you supporting them with?"

A flicker of irritation crossed his face. "Even so, I'm the one who takes care of them day to day. That's still better than you off in another state who couldn't care less about your own parents."

He actually had the nerve.

"You take care of them? Mom retired and came here to raise your kid, do your laundry, cook your meals, like a live-in nanny. That's how you take care of Mom?"

"And Dad. Retired, and still leasing a pond to raise fish, and every cent he makes goes right back to you, doesn't it? They're the ones taking care of you."

His face went uglier still, and Tabitha jumped in. "That's them, they just can't sit still. Nobody asked them to do any of it."

"Besides, you've been away for years. It's not like you've done a thing for them either. How do you have the face to talk like this?"

I pulled out my phone and opened my chat history with Mom. "Every single month she tells me she's got nothing to live on, and every single month I transfer her three thousand. That's not counting the clothes and the supplements I buy her on top of it."

I pointed at the outfit she was wearing. "That's from me too, isn't it?"

Mom pressed a guilty hand to her chest and gave a weak little laugh. "We're all family. Why bring up any of this?"

"Your brother is the Pruitt family's only son. Vicky, you have a duty to look after him too, so let it go."

"And really, you're on your own out there, you can't be spending that much. What's the harm in giving your brother and his wife a few thousand a month? Don't be so petty about it."

So here we were. Even after I'd put in far more than my brother and his wife ever had, in Mom's eyes it took just one thing I refused to give, and I was the petty one.

Well, today I'd be petty on purpose.

"I come home to tutor their kid, and I'm supposed to hand over rent and food money on top of it? And if I won't, I'm petty?"

"On what grounds? I'm tutoring Vicky for free."

Tabitha gave a cold snort. "Tutoring, what's so hard about that? You just talk for a bit. You eat here, you sleep here. You think the water and electricity don't cost anything?"

"And even if I sent Vicky to a tutoring center, it'd only be fifteen hundred for two whole months. Do the math. You living here, eating and sleeping for free, you're getting the sweet end of the deal. There's no way you don't chip in something."

She was lining up my one-on-one lessons against a big group class packed with dozens of kids.

Mom seized the opening and grabbed my arm. "Vicky, see, your sister-in-law has a point. Tutoring isn't expensive these days. Here's what we'll do, each of you settles your own share. She'll pay you what tutoring costs out there. That works, doesn't it? Then you're not losing out."

I laughed coldly. "Mom, you're getting sharper with the numbers by the day. So what you mean is, I still owe Tabitha ten thousand five hundred on top of it?"

Mom said nothing. Leon Pruitt's face only twisted angrier. "We're already paying you a tutoring fee. What more do you want?"

I grabbed the handle of my suitcase and made as if to walk out.

"What more? Nothing. I'm done tutoring. Go sign her up at a tutoring center."

3: 3

Seeing that I really meant to leave, my mother stepped in front of me again. "What is wrong with you? You throw a fit over a few words and now you want to walk out?"

"We already agreed to pay you the tutoring money, so why are you still making a scene?"

I gave a cold laugh. "The money you're offering isn't tutoring money."

"Two months for fifteen hundred dollars, like your sister-in-law said, that's a plain homework club. Dozens of kids in one class, they just make sure the students finish their assignments. There's no real teaching at all."

"I'm a top-earning tutor. Coming back to tutor her means one-on-one, math, English, everything, plus a study plan built just for her. Do you honestly think those two things are worth the same?"

Guilt flickered across my mother's face. "We're all family. Splitting hairs over this makes you look like an outsider."

"That's your own niece. She's the one who'll take care of you when you're old. Are you really going to nickel-and-dime a child?"

Whenever she had no ground to stand on, she'd fall back on the child. It was my mother's go-to move, and it always worked.

Not this time. I was about to speak when the sound of the front door opening came from the entryway.

"Auntie, you're back."

A small figure rushed over and threw her arms around me, and my heart went soft.

My mother saw it, and something calculating crossed her eyes. "Look how close Vicky is with you. You're going to tutor her and still argue over money? Think how much it'll hurt her to hear that."

I looked down at the child, and just as I hesitated, Victoria Pruitt shoved me away.

"Auntie, what does Grandma mean? You're charging me money to tutor me?"

"Didn't my mom say you still owe us twelve thousand in living expenses? She said we'd use that to buy me a tablet. If you take the money back, how am I supposed to get my tablet?"

"Auntie, if you want money, then when I grow up I won't take care of you in your old age. Let's see what you do then."

Looking at this child, not even twelve years old, watching her face slowly become her mother's face, I woke up all at once.

I'm a committed single woman. I'd said I would never marry, never have kids in this life, and my mother said fine, then treat Vicky like your own child and let her take care of you when you're old.

I only smiled at the time. But I did love her like my own.

Looking at her now, she was just another ingrate.

Seeing that I said nothing, my mother rushed to clap a hand over Victoria's mouth. "She's just a kid, she likes to run her mouth. June, you wouldn't hold it against your own niece."

"Vicky, hurry up and apologize to your aunt."

Victoria shoved my mother's hand away, planted her hands on her hips, and shouted at me. "I didn't say anything wrong. My mom said she has no kids, so when she's old she'll have to depend on me for everything, which means all her money is mine someday. I didn't say anything wrong. Isn't that what you said too?"

I turned to look at my mother. "You said that too?"

She gave an awkward little laugh. "I was just talking. But is it not true? You won't have children, so who else will you depend on when you're old but Vicky? All your money and everything will go to her in the end, obviously."

I was still young, and the whole family already had their eyes on my money.

I looked at Victoria and smiled. "You're not my child, and none of what I own will ever be yours."

"As for tutoring over summer break, I don't have time to tutor you."

Then I took out my phone and sent a message to the parent from before. "I can take your summer tutoring job now."

4: 4

The parent's reply came fast. “Thank you, Teacher Pruitt. Here's the tutoring fee, please accept it.”

Then the thirty thousand dollars landed in my account.

I let a smile tug at my mouth. I'd just wheeled my suitcase to the front hall when my father appeared, holding two fish.

The moment he saw me, his eyes lit up. “June, I heard you were back, so I went and caught two fish just to bring you something good to eat.”

He grabbed my hand and steered me back inside. “Whatever it is, save it for after dinner.”

Looking at the sweat all over his face, the refusal caught in my throat and wouldn't come out.

At the table, he kept piling fish onto my plate. “I remember you always loved fish. The belly meat is the tenderest part. Here, this piece is for you.”

My mother chimed in from the side. “See how much your dad loves you? The second he heard you were home, he took three buses just to bring you fish. Family's supposed to be warm and close like this.”

“Right, family, and someone still brings up money. I don't know how she even gets the words out.”

“Shut it. Is that any way to talk to your sister?”

Dad cut Leon off sharply, then turned to me. “June, your brother just has a bad mouth. At the end of it, you two are the closest family there is.”

“How can you bring up money for tutoring Vicky?”

I set down my chopsticks and looked straight at him. “Your wife was the one who said I should pay rent and food money to stay here. She asked me for money first.”

Dad gave an awkward laugh, a flicker of calculation in his eyes. “That was your sister-in-law misspeaking. It wasn't really her asking for money, she was asking on my behalf.”

“The rent for the fish farm is twelve thousand short today. Just treat it as a loan to me.”

Something in me went cold for good. I really shouldn't have held out even a sliver of hope for a single person in this family.

A cold smile pulled at my lips as I stared hard into my father's eyes. “So when rent and food money didn't shake the cash loose, you just swapped it for a different excuse?”

“Dad, I remember the fish pond rent isn't due until December every year.”

“You've got it wrong.”

I shook my head and pulled out my phone, showing him the transfer to his account. “Last December's rent was paid by me. Here's the record.”

Only then did my father fall silent.

I stood and picked up my suitcase. “Mom, Dad, I'm heading back now.”

Behind me came the sudden crash of a bowl shattering. My father jabbed a finger at my back and roared, “June Pruitt, walk out that door and you don't get to call me your father anymore.”

“It's just twelve thousand. It's not like you don't have it. Can't you just call it looking after your mom and me?”

Leon snorted and set his chopsticks down too. “Getting Dad this worked up over a little money. June, are you even a Pruitt?”

My mother joined in. “Your dad's right. Just treat the money as something you gave your dad and me to spend. Come over and apologize to your father right now, and today can be behind us.”

I hadn't done a single thing wrong. Why should I be the one to apologize?

“I didn't do anything wrong. I won't apologize.”

I turned to go, and then a vicious slap landed across my face. “You unfilial girl, I can see you've turned against us. You're not going anywhere this summer. You're staying to tutor Vicky.”

Seeing me struck, Vicky clapped her hands in delight. “Grandpa's amazing, do it again.”

A child like that didn't deserve my tutoring.

“I absolutely won't.”

With that I turned, and pushing my suitcase, opened the door.

“If you walk out that door, you're no longer our daughter.”